No entitlements, no disengagement – PHCN workers

The National Union of Electricity Employees on Friday warned that no staff of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria should be sacked without payment of their entitlements.

The General Secretary, NUEE, Mr. Joe Ajaero, gave the warning in a chat with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos.

Ajaero said that workers of the company should not be disengaged if their severance packages were not paid.

He was reacting to a statement by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Power, Dr. Dere Awosika, that the ministry would start issuing disengagement letters to PHCN workers on December 17.

Awosika had said at the 5th Power Summit in Lagos that the ministry would start issuing letters of disengagement to the PHCN workers from December 17 to December 21, “since the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) was working out the total cost of their disengagement.”

Ajaero said that representatives of the Federal Government and the union had last week signed an agreement on how to pay pension and gratuities to PHCN workers.

He said the government and labour unions in PHCN had agreed on payment of gratuities and pensions to the workers, as plans to transfer the ownership of PHCN to successor companies reached a climax.

NAN reports that the ministry had announced that the Federal Government would disburse N170 billion as severance package to workers of PHCN.